Obsidian Contacted by Major Publisher over Kickstarter Project

Either this was just a major gaming publisher that made an honest mistake about the true nature of Kickstarter or a corporate suit totally taking advantage of a wonderful new idea. You be the judge.

RPG gurus Obsidian Entertainment recently successfully cleared their Kickstarter goal of $1.1 million in a single day, shattering it with nearly $1.5 million. A week of genius teasing and fan speculation certainly paid off. Their funded project, Project Eternity, pays homage to the revolutionary Infinity Engine games which breathed new life into the struggling western RPG around the turn of the millennium. Apparently, a major publisher also caught wind and approached Obsidian about taking the game off their hands and publishing it themselves.

Wait a minute, Kickstater is for the talented people who make the games to get their risky dream projects off the ground. They are typically the projects big publishers don’t want to touch, so why would one of them approach when a project was already entirely funded? I mean, it’s not like Obsidian needs the money now, you silly gooses. Oh wait, they just wanted a free IP. I see…

Luckily, Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart saw through the shroud of dishonesty as well, and posted on the actual Kickstarter page that a “big publisher” had approached them on the project.

“We were actually contacted by some publishers over the last few months that wanted to use us to do a Kickstarter. I said to them ‘So, you want us to do a Kickstarter for, using our name, we then get the Kickstarter money to make the game, you then publish the game, but we then don’t get to keep the brand we make and we only get a portion of the profits.’

“They said, ‘Yes”

I’m sure Feargus politely turned the publisher down, and hopefully dropped a few forbidden four letter words in the process. I’m always a bit hard on Obsidian for great broken buggy games, but I’ve got nothing but respect for their story telling prowess, and now they’ve gone and made folk heroes of themselves, standing up for their creative control and taking gaming in the correct direction. Kudos boys, kudos.

Sadly, he can’t mention any names, but I’m sure that whoever did it must feel really guilty about themselves right now, and hopefully sweating in their shoes that Obsidian doesn’t come forward.

You’ve earned my respect so much, you get not one but a few plugs. Obsidian entertainment’s Kickstarter campaign for Project Eternity in currently in stretch mode with an astounding 27 days left to go. They’ve raised $1.6 million, and the next benchmark will be reached at $1.8 million which will create new races, character classes, and party members in their upcoming RPG. Marvelous!

Obsidian Entertainment is currently working on South Park: The Stick of Truth, an RPG which emulates the popular television show nearly pixel for pixel. They’ve also got a an RPG based on Robert Jordon’s popular fantasy book series the Wheel of Time in the works. I’ve even read somewhere that their last original IP, Alpha Protocol, isn’t half as horrible as it’s made out to be.

They believe Project Eternity will not be available until 2014 at the earliest, but by all means Obsidian. Take your time and iron those bugs out, please! I’m more than delighted to see what they are capable of without a publisher breathing down their necks, ranting about deadlines.

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Ron has been living it up in Japan for the last decade, and he has no intention of leaving this technical wonderland any time soon. When he's not...Ron has been living it up in Japan for the last decade, and he has no intention of leaving this technical wonderland any time soon. When he's not...